Baroque's Assassination Attempt

Seeing that she had made a mistake, Moka hurriedly apologized. "S-sorry, I didn't see anyone there."

"."

"Ah, no, what I meant was, you were too dark, so I didn't see you—"

Moka waved her hands, trying to put it more precisely.

Luke's face darkened even further.

Calling me dark?

If you don't know how to talk, then talk less. Careful, or I'll sue you for discrimination!

He had originally planned to stop her and ask a few questions. He had even worked out his entrance and lines in his head.

Just as he was about to speak, she grabbed hold of him for support. Before he could react, she threw up all over him.

Damn it. My girlfriend just bought me this shirt!!

Of all things, you had to lean on me instead of the wall?

Smack.

Furious, he tossed the handkerchief to the ground, grabbed her by the collar, and slammed her hard against the wall.

Before Moka could scream, a photograph was thrust before her eyes.

It was the photo of the monster whose head had split into four parts.

Moka was terrified, and her gaze involuntarily fell onto the photo.

The moment she saw what was in it, she let out a scream, shook her head frantically, and struggled with all her strength.

"No, no, I didn't see it! I really didn't see it!"

But no matter how she struggled, she could not escape Luke Cage's strength.

"As expected. You seem to know something."

With one hand pressing her head against the wall, Luke finally delivered the line he had prepared long ago. His voice was low and hoarse, like some fiend from the underworld.

"Now, tell me. What did you see that night two weeks ago?"

"I-I don't know. I didn't see anything!"

Scared out of her wits, Moka's trembling lips kept repeating the same sentence.

Her body shook violently, and it was obvious that something was very wrong with her.

Luke had seen enough to know better than to waste words. Grabbing her, he forcibly spun her around.

Staring into Moka's eyes, he threw a punch that grazed past her head and slammed heavily into the wall behind her.

Bang!

"Listen, I know you're scared right now. After all, something so terrifying happened.

"But blindly running away won't solve anything."

Luke spoke slowly, doing his best to make sure she heard every word.

"I heard you haven't gone home for two weeks.

"Think about your lovely wife, then look at yourself now. Do you think you can keep running away like this forever?!"

Words were a weapon. Luke tried to use her wife to pry open her psychological defenses.

"No, what do you know?

"You don't understand anything at all!!"

Luke's words had clearly worked. Moka gripped his hand, struggling desperately to break free.

"That kind of monster isn't something humans can fight against!

"We're too insignificant..."

As she spoke, her eyes grew unfocused, as though she had returned to that night two weeks ago.

On the street.

Cars, explosions, flames.

Women's screams, men's roars, the thunder of gunfire, and scythes of death flashing from time to time in the darkness.

That had not been a battle. It had been a massacre—a massacre of humans by demons!

Moka had crouched in a corner against the wall, her eyes bloodshot, carefully covering her mouth as her whole body trembled.

Never before had she so readily acknowledged humanity's weakness.

Even those burly men with bulging muscles and firearms in their hands had been unable to face it.

She had seen it with her own eyes—that man, no, that monster!

Its head had split apart like an orange, red tentacles shooting out from within while dragging scythes of death behind them.

By the time she came to her senses, utter terror and death had already devoured that patch of land without hesitation.

"That was hell—the deepest abyss of nightmares."

Moka did not even know how he had escaped.

Maybe he had been lucky. Maybe that monster simply had not considered his life worth taking.

He had survived.

Even so, there was no way he could forget the nightmare of that day!

Listless, he drank his sorrows away all the way, trying to numb his nerves. Cowardly, Moka tried to forget the past.

Had he not gone home?

No, Moka had still gone back.

He just had not gone inside. Standing in the yard, he peered fearfully through the window, shoulders hunched like a startled ostrich, watching that horrifying scene.

"Ah, I saw it. I saw my wife die with my own eyes.

"How that monster killed her, then slowly moved into her body..."

"That scene... it was far too terrifying!"

[Emotion Points from Luke Cage +343]

Watching the pitiful man before him ramble on as if he were making his final arrangements, recounting everything.

"..."

Luke did not interrupt him. He knew how much pressure this man had been carrying in his heart.

Just thinking about those things was enough to send chills down one's spine.

At the same time, his mind raced as he continuously extracted crucial information from the man's words.

Weaving that information together with the intelligence in his mind, Luke tried to piece together what had truly happened!

Soon, his expression shifted as he caught hold of a key point.

"Moka, do you know who those black-clad men with guns were?"

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Moka froze. Frowning, he thought for a long while.

Luke waited patiently. Soon, Moka's brow relaxed, as if he had remembered something.

"I know. Those people were—"

"Oh, so you were hiding here." A cold voice suddenly came from above.

Before anyone could react—

Clang.

A grenade dropped to the ground.

Luke Cage's expression changed drastically. He grabbed Moka and lunged forward.

BOOM!!

The massive explosion swallowed the entire alley.

The tremendous blast instantly sent Luke Cage and Moka flying.

Bang!

Shielding Moka, Luke Cage crashed straight through a wall.

Stones rained down with a clatter, and the billowing dust buried the two of them.

The enormous impact made his internal organs churn. Before Luke could check his own injuries, he anxiously looked down.

"Moka, wake up."

His breastbone had already shattered, and a steel bar had pierced his waist.

Blood continuously flowed down from his forehead. As though experiencing a final flash of life, Moka spoke a few broken words.

"Please... save... my wife... She is... Ireland."

He died.

"Moka."

Luke's heart darkened. This pitiful man had not died that night two weeks ago, but in this forgotten alley.

Even until death, he had still been thinking of his wife.

[Emotion Points from Luke Cage +477]

Smack.

He clenched his fist, fire burning in his heart.

A savage rage was trapped in his chest, with nowhere to vent!

"Heh~ He died that easily?

"Sure enough, grenades are far too crude. They completely fail to suit my elegance~"

Golden hair tied behind his head, a white mask on his face, Baroque rose from the rooftop in irritation.

"Forget it. Let's call it a day."

With that, he turned to leave.

The next second.

Boom—!!

A black shadow burst violently from the pile of rubble.